If looks equals performance then the Cooler Master GeminII will certainly top our performance charts. The GeminII has stirred the imagination of our readers like no other new cooler that has been introduced. This is primarily the result of the unique design of this heatpipe tower that tries to address issues that some fear remain with current heatpipe tower designs.

The top-performing air tower designs we have tested, like the Thermalright Ultra 120 pictured above, have the heatpipes rising from the base that contacts the CPU, with horizontal cooling fins. The 120mm cooling fan blows from the side of this plate stack, directing air to the rear of the case. Performance tests have shown this to be a very effective air cooler design, but some still worry that motherboard components cannot be cooled as well with this configuration as they might be with a traditional down-facing fan.

Cooler Master's GeminII switches things around by moving six heatpipes to a cantilevered top array cooler with vertical fans attached to the pipes. In the process the Gemini II creates a massive top-mounting space that can accommodate up to two 120mm down-facing fans.

Cooler Master emphasizes that the idea behind the GeminII is efficient CPU cooling with good cooling for motherboard components provided by the fans blowing down. It all looks and sounds logical enough, but looks and logic have proven off-target before in our testing. We were very anxious to run the Gemini II through our cooling test bed to see if it improved on the performance of the best air coolers we have tested in our labs.

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44 Comments

This review ranks with Anantech's H2O kit review as one of the all-time low points for internet reviews.

Once again, accurate & useful data marred by horrendous conclusions.

To wit:

1: Some people have small cases, like HTPC cases & such, and cannot fit any of the top heatsinks. For all of these users, the Gemini II is quite possibly the BEST heatsink that will actually fit. (It will JUST fit into a 3U rack case, with Noctua fans installed)

2: Some people care about low noise. The Gemini II was shown, by this very review, to excel with low-noise fans. Compare any heatsink made, with the possibly exception of the Ultra-120, to the Gemini with both using 1300 rpm Noctuas- The Gemini is the clear winner.
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But sadly, the reviewer here fails to take these situations into consideration and decides to say that the excellent Gemini II is a "poser." Because this review was the first major one to be published, no one else really bothered much, and the product all but disappeared from the marketplace.

SHAME on this reviewer. Seriously.

FWIW, I had a DuOrb on my OC'd Q6600. I couldn't get it past 3.2 Ghz.
I recently switched to a Gemini II with two Noctuas, and have reached 3.5 Ghz under heavy load. - And the noise is almost non-existant.

I got this cooler for $1 buck after rebates from Newegg. I don't care if it doesn't cool any better than the Intel HSF; the box and metal itself are worth the $1 just to look at. They're so shiny!!! Reply

I dont mind AT comparing one product agianst another in fact I welcome it as it gives me a better feel on how the product fits into the market. But I find this review a little lacking. It reviews the coolers ability to cool but states the it comes midrange in all the tests of all aircoolers tested, but i could not find any mention of how much the cooler cost in comparison to the leading performers. A little investigation of the AT site shows that the "TOP" performer costs almost double what the Gemini (the Thermalright Ultra 120 is shown as $60 and the Gemini at $33) wouldnt this indicate that the cooler is not "meant" to compete with the top line models, after all we dont compare the family sedan with a Porsche do we. There's no mention of value for $ anywhere in the article (unless i missed it) so it may not be the great cooler that you were hoping it to be but how does it compare when you bring budget and market placement into it. Reply

you never mentioned that memory and northbridge temperatures fall off the map with the gemini II

the purpose of the cooler isn't to be an exceptional cpu cooler. its purpose is to cool everything else, too. and it does THAT better than ANY other cooler out there. my memory and northbridge have no active cooling, so with this cooler, they run exceptionally cooler. and all at no expense to added noise. Reply

Wow! Seems some people (including the reviewer) got out of bed on the wrong side.

In common with many people, when I'm in the market for a new oiece of kit, I google up as many reviews and forum posts as I can find and make purchasing decisions accordingly. I find it significant that of all the reviews for the CoolerMaster Gemini II, yours is the only negative one. This tells me a lot about your approach.

The fact is that the vast majority of readers/surfers/PC-owners are NOT looking to "OC this rig to 5.9GHz at 27,000 volts on air!" just so they can brag about it at playschool. And as a good and responsible review site, you shouldn't be pandering to these measurebators.

I find your conclusion misleading and even unfair to CoolerMaster. The Gemini fits a particular need, a niche requirement if you will, and your review should reflect that instead of dismissing it as a gimmick that fails to outperform XYZ brand.

Take my case: I have a Gigabyte DQ6 board in a Lian-Li PC-V2000 Plus II case. I've gone for a mild overclock to 3.2GHz (400x8) with the RAM running at 1:1 (800). Originally I fitted a Noctua big-tower cooler thingee. The CPU cooling was just great but I was running an uncomfortably high temp on the MCH (a common problem with tower-style coolers). Problem: on this board (and many others I'm), a tower-style cooler of the Noctua's dimensions overhangs the MCH, so I'm unable to fit a 40mm fan to the top of its heatsink to cool the wee beastie down. Solution: a Gemini II with two Noctua 120mm fans. Now I get more or less the same CPU temp as the Noctua gave me, but greatly improved MCH temp (even without the 40mm fan running) and I'm sure my RAM and power components are happier too.

In other words, the Gemini is a VERY clever and useful piece of equipment, designed to answer a specific and not uncommon problem and it does so VERY well. So, far from being dismissed as a mere gimmick, it should be praised for bucking a fashion trend (encouraged by reviews like yours) and doing exactly what it says it will do.

And, as others have pointed out, for HTPC applications none of the big towers will fit. Your review could/should have identified these points and given CoolerMaster the praise they deserve.

Too bad it didn't do better... It has 8 maybe if you had a case with side intake it would have performed cooler? I'm actually going to build a a side intake system using the Enermax chakra case. It has a 250mm fan that would push air into the line of suction of these fans. I also notice it has 6 heat pipes like the 120 ultra extreme, it must be that they made it too short. If the fins were taller it would have had comparable surface area and done better perhaps. I really like the idea though of spreading out more instead of having it one tall tower. It blows on the ram too! Reply

I noticed you have been reviewing quite a few coolers as of late. Grab a Thermaltake V1 and see how it does. I know it won't out perform the Tuniq tower and it should be good for a mid range OC. I am curious what its limits are. Below is what I am talking about-